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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26827237">romeo</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ndnickerson/pseuds/ndnickerson'>ndnickerson</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Nancy Drew - Carolyn Keene</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Peril, Rescue, Sharing Body Heat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 11:02:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,182</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26827237</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ndnickerson/pseuds/ndnickerson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A boy, a girl, a moonlit cemetery...</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Nancy Drew/Ned Nickerson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>romeo</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p class="p1">The stillness was total.</p>
<p class="p1">The noise of Nancy's body—the beat of her rapid pulse in her ears, the terrible pounding ache radiating from the back of her head, the sting of scrapes on her elbows—rushed in to fill the vacuum, as she cautiously opened her eyes. She had been tossed in a heap onto—dirt? It was definitely cold where she was. The dress she wore was voluminous, but the bodice didn't cover much, and her bare arms were already pimpled with gooseflesh.</p>
<p class="p1">He'd figured it out.</p>
<p class="p1">She groaned quietly as she pushed herself up, wincing at sudden shooting pains responding to every movement, especially the one that sent a spike directly up her spine and into her brain. For a moment, she wasn't sure if her eyes really <em>were</em> open; the darkness was complete, pulsing with streamers of violet and gray, likely thanks to what had to be a mild concussion.</p>
<p class="p1">Cautiously, she began to feel around. Rough, cold stone, maybe? Dirt. Moss.</p>
<p class="p1">She drew a deep breath. With a fingernail, she caught the edge of something engraved there.</p>
<p class="p1">Well. That certainly seemed appropriate.</p>
<p class="p1">If she were in a mausoleum, a place where only the dead would ignore her cries for help, the good news was it was meant to keep people <em>out</em>, not <em>in</em>—or, more likely, to keep moisture out. All she had to do was find a seam and unseal it.</p>
<p class="p1">Yes. That would do it.</p>
<p class="p1">She felt around, but her purse was nowhere near her, of course. Of course not. That would be far too easy. She'd tucked her lockpick kit into it, just in case—and it would be a pain to replace it again, once she was out of here.</p>
<p class="p1">She needed something sharp and thin. She gave a few moments' consideration to dismantling her bra to pull out the underwire, but decided to save that as a last resort. Sometimes in these places, she'd seen before, framed portraits or keepsakes to commemorate the dead... and she had no idea what was around her.</p>
<p class="p1">Time was meaningless, and counted only in shivers, in every degree colder that she felt. She prised a slender piece of metal off its housing, her fingertips stinging from the cold and the damage the effort meant. Every moment brought another thought she had to shove away, her awareness of what was around her, the isolation, the hopelessness of this situation...</p>
<p class="p1">Slowly her eyes adjusted to the darkness, taking advantage of the weak moonlight further diluted by ornamental stained-glass windows. She didn't dare look at her fingers, or look at anything other than the walls, searching for the seam of a door. The windows definitely weren't large enough to afford her any kind of exit.</p>
<p class="p1">She found the door, and swallowed against the lump in her throat as she wedged the piece of metal into the seam.</p>
<p class="p1">--</p>
<p class="p1">"There. <em>There!</em>"</p>
<p class="p1">Four high-powered flashlight beams converged in glaring blue-white on the family name engraved above the door, and Ned charged toward it, his heart pounding, his panted breath hanging clouds in the frigid air.</p>
<p class="p1">
  <em>"Nancy!"</em>
</p>
<p class="p1">Nothing. No response.</p>
<p class="p1">He could feel a flicker of hesitation from the men who had come with him, but he ignored it. No one was standing guard; good. He was so keyed up that he would have punched through anyone between him and Nancy like a cinder block through a sheet of wet paper.</p>
<p class="p1">The vault actually had a deadbolt on it, a weathered disk of metal with a keyhole in the middle. The disk bore some shallow scratches that winked back at them from the flashlights' beams. Hesitation, shaky hands—adrenaline, rushing to shove a prone body into the vault before anyone noticed the scene.</p>
<p class="p1">Ned cursed. "<em>Nancy!</em>"</p>
<p class="p1">No response.</p>
<p class="p1">"We need a crowbar!" His voice was too loud, a roar of desperate need, but he couldn't do anything about it now.</p>
<p class="p1">"Are you sure?"</p>
<p class="p1">Ned was. And if no one found him a crowbar in the next thirty seconds, he would prise it open with his bare hands.</p>
<p class="p1">Once they finally opened the door, the mood changed completely. Ned's heart sank when he saw her, collapsed in a spill of blue satin, her skin pale in the flashlight beams, tinged with blue. The men who had come with him shouted orders to each other; Ned reached down and felt for a pulse with trembling hands. Her fingertips were dark, and under the frost in the air, he could smell the copper of blood.</p>
<p class="p1">She was alive, but her skin was so cold.</p>
<p class="p1">Ned gathered her into his arms, the dead weight of her, and held her close as he carried her to the backseat of the closest SUV. Her breath was nearly imperceptible, and his ears were straining for anything, a soft groan, a protest that she was <em>fine, just a little sore</em>, something. But nothing came.</p>
<p class="p1">Doors slammed around them. A siren's deafening wail pierced the night as the SUV screeched away from the curb, heading toward the closest hospital.</p>
<p class="p1">"Nancy." Ned's voice was quiet as he alternated between holding her close, willing as much warmth into her as he could, and pulling back to peer into her face, looking for a flutter of eyelashes, any mark of something he could help treat. He rubbed his warm palms over her bare skin, the nape of her neck, her shoulder blades, her upper arms. Her skin was terribly, terribly cold.</p>
<p class="p1">The SUV had just serpentined through an intersection, a maneuver punctuated by the outraged bleating of car horns and the squeal of brakes, when Nancy shuddered and opened her eyes with a sharp gasp. "Oh! Oh..."</p>
<p class="p1">Trying to keep the tears from welling up was impossible, but he attempted it anyway. "Hey," he said gently.</p>
<p class="p1">He watched her come back to herself, realizing that she was free, that she was safe, and the tension drained away as cautious relief replaced it. "Romeo," she murmured.</p>
<p class="p1">Ned snorted. "Give me a little more credit than that," he objected. His hands were still trembling a little.</p>
<p class="p1">"How did you find me?"</p>
<p class="p1">"Once I realized you were gone, I stuck to him like glue. I heard him on the phone, telling someone to go by the vault in three days to take care of the trash—and I don't know, something about the way he said it... I confronted him, but he just laughed it off."</p>
<p class="p1">Nancy shook her head in wonder. "I can't believe... I was working on digging my way out, I just had to take a break..."</p>
<p class="p1">After a brief glance at her fingers, Ned hadn't been able to look at her hands again. The sight made his own hands ache in sympathy. "Sorry it took so long. We had to figure out which vault..."</p>
<p class="p1">She shuddered, her teeth chattering, and Ned wrapped her in his arms again. "Nan," he murmured against her hair.</p>
<p class="p1">"You found me," she forced between chattering teeth.</p>
<p class="p1">"Yeah." He rubbed his palms over her back, nuzzling against her cold neck, breathing against her skin. "And I'm never letting you go."</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This story was originally published elsewhere. If you enjoyed it, please consider leaving feedback!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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